And one-half to james e



J. P. RUMBURG.

CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 15, I918.

1,325,959. I Patented Dec. 23,1919.

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5 Z .6 4 i F9? 0 5z51 1 i9 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES PARIS RUMBURG, OF ARTESIA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 F. W.

FOSTER, 0F ARTESIA, CALIFORNIA, AND ONE-HALF T0 JAMES E.

ANGELES, (TALIFORNIA.

Application filed May 15, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES PARIS RUM- BURG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Artesia, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Circuit-Breaker, of which the fol-',

lowing is a specification.

This invention pertains to circuit breakers especially of the character designed to be operated by thermostats.

An object of the invention is to produce a circuit breaker which is very sensitive to the movements of a thermostat.

Another object of the invention is to over come the tendency to sticking together of the contacts.

ture has risen sufficiently to cause the thermostat theoretically to operate the circuit breaker at the predetermined temperature.

Another object of this invention is to make provision for utilizing the inertia of a moving-member to separate the contacts when a predetermined degree of temperature has been reached.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detail description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a circuit breaker built in accordance with this invention, a fragment of the rod for connecting the circuit breaker with a thermostat, or'

other operating device, also being shown.

Fig. 2 is a plan View of Fig. 1. Fig. 3'is a sectional elevation on line indicated by m w Fig. 1.

There is provided a movable member which may be in the form of a lever 1 piv oted at 2 to standards 3 projecting upward from a base 4. The rear portion of'the lever 1 adjacent the pivot 2 is in the form of a flat plate 5 provided with a hole 6 EVANS, OF 'LOS CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

Serial N 0. 234,592.

through which an operating rod 7 is adapted to pass, there being a nut 8 screw-threaded onto the rod 7 to prevent the rod from being separated from the plate. This rod 7 does not form a part of the invention but is merely the rod that connects the circuit breaker with some form of operating device, for instance, the rod 7 may be the operating rod of a thermostat which may be constructed to exert a downwardpull on the rod 7 as the temperature increases.

The lever 1 is provided at its forward portion with an arm 9 on which is shiftably mounted a weight 10 which is held in ad justed position on the arm by a set screw 11,

or its equivalent. This weight 10 normally holds the lever 1 with its forward end depressed, as shown in Fig. 1, against the pull of the rod 7.

The forward end of the lever 1 forms a downwardly bent portion 12 which is connected by a spring 13 or any other suitable connecting means with the rear end of a movable member which in the instance shown in the drawings is in the form of a lever 14. In the drawings, the lever 14 'comprises two parallel longitudinally extending arms15 spaced from one another and connected together at their: rearward ends by a plate 16-to which the spring 13 is attached. The forward ends of the arms 15 are connected together by a contact support ing bar 17. Of course the lever 14 may be of any other suitable construction than that described. The lever .14 is-provided at its forward end on the bar 17 with an electric contact 18 adapted to engage a shiftably mounted contact 19 when the lever 14 is held with its forward end raised.v It will be noted that when the lever 1 is depressed, as in Fig. 1, the pull of the spring 13 is downward on the rear end of the lever'14 so as to hold the forward end ofthe lever 14 in its circuit-making contact-closing position. As the forward end of the lever 1 is gradually raised, it will be noted that the downward pull of the Spring 13 on the rear end of the lever 14 gradually diminishes until it is not sufficient to overbalan ce the weight of the forward end of the lever 14 and consequently the forward end of the lever 14 will drop, carrying with it the contact 18. The lever 14 is so pivoted'that when not held down by the pull of the spring 13 the forward end of the lever tends to drop. The

Patented Dec. 23, 1919.

lever 14 may be pivotally mounted by any suitable means and in the drawings the mounting comprisesknife edges 20 fastened to the lever 14 and engaging notches 21 in the rear edges of posts 22 projecting up from the base 4. The knife edges 20 are held in the notches 21 by reason of the forward pull of the spring 13.

Now returning to the contact- 19, said contact is mounted on a contact-supporting cross bar 23 provided at its ends with guides which in the instance shown are in the form of tubes 24. The guides 24 are shiftably mounted on vertical guide-rods 25 which are rigidly mounted on the base 4. The cross bar 23 and guides 24 together form a shiftably mounted follower. The mounting for the rods 25 may be of any suitable construction and in the instance shown in the drawings, comprises a frame 26 fastened by screws 27 or their equivalents to the base 4, the rods 25 being screw-threaded at their lower ends into the frame 26. Nuts 28 hold the rods 25 and frame 26 firmly together. .The frame 26 may be braced,'if desired, and such braces are shown at 29 held in place at one end on the rods 25 by nuts 30 and fas tened at their other ends to the base 4 by screws 31 and nuts 32.

The guides project below the level of the Contact 19 sufiiciently far so as to stop the downward movement of the bar 23 and contact.19 while the contact 18 and forward end of the lever 14 continue to move downward until the cross bar 17 comes to rest on an abutment formed by a screw a mounted on the base 4. I

A suitable terminal may be provided for the cross bar 23 and in the instance shown said terminal comprises a screw 33 and,

washer 34 which together constitute a binding post for fastening a wire 35 to the cross bar 23. This wire'35- may be connected by a screw and washer 36, 37, to a post 38 which may be provided with another screw and washer 39, 40, whereby to connect the post 38 to one of the wires of the electric circuit in which the circuit breaker is to be connected. One of the other wires of the electric circuit may be grounded on one of the posts 22 and for that purpose said post is provided with a screw and washer 41, 42. The base 4 is made of suitable insulating material and the other parts of the device,

with the exception of the plate 16, are of metal so as to be capable of conducting an electric current. The plate 16 is of insulating' material so as to insulate the lever 1 from the lever 14.

In practice, it may be assumed, for purposes of clearly describing the operation of the invention, that the circuit breaker is installed in an electric circuit efl'ecting the heating of an incubator and is connected with a thermostat. As thethermostat, not shown,

controlling the rod 7 pulls downward on said downward with the lever 14 and contact 18 until the lower ends of the guides 24 strike the frame whereupon the downward movement of the follower and its contact 19 will be stopped. The forward end of the lever 14.continues to move downward, however, and the inertia of the moving lever 14 overcomes whatever tendency to sticking to one another there may be of the contacts 18', 19 and consequently the contacts are separated and the circuit broken.

The position of the weight 10 on the arm 9 governs the degree of temperature at which the circuit breaker operates as is readily understood.

From the foregoing it is clear that the construction described above makes provision for breaking the circuit accurately at any predetermined temperature and that all tendency to sticking together of the contacts is avoided.

It is understood that modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the appended claims without departing from the essential features of the invention. v

I claim: I

1. A circuit breaker comprising a movably mounted contact, a shiftably mounted gravity-operated follower having a contact fixed to it and adapted to rest on the first named contact, releasable means to normally.hold the first contact against the second'contact, means to release the holding 2. A circuit breaker comprising a pivotally mounted lever adapted to be connected -with an operating device, a movablemember connected with and controlled by move-- ment of the lever, a contact on the movable member, a shiftably mounted gravityoperated follower having acontact fixed to it and adapted to rest on and be supported by the first contact, and means to stop the downward movement of'the follower while the movable member continues to carry its contact downward. I p

3. A circuit breaker comprising a pivot ally mounted lever, releasable means to hold the forward end of the lever in raised position, means to release said holding means,

acontact on the forward end of said lever,

.a :shiftably' mounted gravity-operated follower having a contact fixed to 'it and adapted to rest on and be supported by thefirst named contact; and means to stop the I downward movement of the follower whilethe forward end of the lever continues continues to descend.

5. A circuit breaker comprising a pivotally mounted lever adapted to be connected with an operating device, a second pivotally mounted lever, 'a spring connecting the forward end of the first named leverto the rear end of the second named lever, a contact on the forward end of the second named lever, a shiftably mounted follower having a'contact adapted to rest on and be supported by the first named contact, and means to sto the downward movement of the follower rearward of the downwardly bent portion of While the forward end ofthe second named lever continues to descend.

6. A circuit. breakericomprising a pivot: ally mounted lever, means to connect an operating device to one end of the lever, an

arm on the other end of the lever, said other end of thelever being downwardly bent, a weight adjustably mounted on said arm, a second pivotally mounted lever extending the first named lever, a spring connected at one end tovthe downwardly bent lever portion and connected at its opposite end to the rear end of the second named lever, a contact on the forward end of the second namedlever, a shiftably mounted. follower having t a contact adapted to rest on and be supported by the first named contact, and means to stop the downward movement of the follower while the forward end of the second named lever continues to descend.

7. A circuit breaker comprising a movably mounted cont'act,-a shiftably mounted gravity-operated follower having a" contact fixed to it and adapted to rest .on the first named contact, releasable means to normally hold the first contact against the second contact, means to release the holding means,

.and means to stop the downward movement of the follower while the second contact continues to move downward, said downward movement of the follower being caused by gravity only. 8. A circuit breaker comprisin vertically guides at its ends shifta'bly engaging the guide-rods, a contact projecting "from the underside of the cross bar, a pivotally mounted lever having a contact at one end adapted to-support the first named contact.

'mounted guide-rods, a cross. ar having when the lever is in one position, and means to move the contact end of the lever downward to allow the first named contact to fall,

said guides being adapted to 'strike the mounting of the guide-rods to limit the downward movement of the first named contact. I

9. A circuit breaker comprising vertically mounted guide-rods, a cross bar halving guides at its ends shiftably' engaging the guide-rods, a contact projecting from the underside of the .cross bar, a pivotally mounted lever having'a contact at one end adapted to support the first named contact when the forward end of the lever is raised, a second pivotally mounted lever having its forward end projecting past the rear end of the first lever, and a spring connecting the rear end of the first lever to the front end of the second lever, the forward end of said spring being above the level of the pivot of the first lever when the forward end of the second lever is raised and the forward end of said spring being below the level of said pivot when the forward end of the second lever'is lowered, and the guides being adapted to strike the mounting of the guide-rods before the forward end of the first lever reaches the limit of its downward movement.

Signed at Los- Angeles, California, this 8th day of May, 191.8, Y I JAMES PARI S RUMBURG. Witnesses:

GEORGE H. Hmns, L. BELLE WEAVER. 

